Boulder County board decides new commissioner district boundaries

District 2 candidate no longer eligible to run

By John Frya For Hometown Weekly

Posted:
09/29/2011 10:11:20 AM MDT

Boulder County commissioners adopted new boundaries this week for the county's three commissioner districts, approving a map that shifts Niwot from the northern county's District 2 into the southeast county's District 3.

That shift, which takes effect for the coming decade of commissioner elections that'll begin with the seats up for election in 2012, ends Niwot Democrat Kai Abelkis' bid for the District 2 commissioner's post.

"At the end of the day, what will be, will be," Abelkis said.

Action by Commissioners Cindy Domenico and Will Toor carries out a state-mandated realignment of commissioner districts to reflect population counts in last year's census. Commissioner Ben Pearlman was vacationing and did not participate in the vote.

Boulder County commissioners are chosen in countywide elections, but each commissioner must live within the district he or she represents on the county board. The board's District 1 and District 2 seats are up for election next year, but the District 3 post, which now will include Abelkis' Niwot home, won't be up for election until 2014. Lafayette Democrat Domenico holds that office now.

Tuesday's remapping leaves five other announced District 2 candidates -- all of them, Longmont Democrats -- eligible to continue their campaigns.

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Lyons Democrat Pearlman has represented the District 2 area spanning northern Boulder County since 2005, but he's term-limited and cannot seek re-election in 2012. The other five people who so far have announced candidacies to succeed Pearlman are Deb Gardner, a state lawmaker; Leslie Irwin, a member of the county commissioners' policy staff; Peggy Jackson; a retired Boulder County government human resources manager; Peter Salas, county government's diversity liaison; and Bill Van Dusen, an attorney specializing in tax law.

Abelkis declined in a Tuesday afternoon interview to endorse any of the others seeking the District 2 post.

"I know all of these folks. They really are all wonderful people and committed to public service," Abelkis said.

The new map -- one of five options the commissioners' staff produced, following guidelines set in state law -- reflects some of the testimony at an Aug. 23 public hearing on four earlier staff-prepared scenarios. Two of the people at that hearing, for example, argued that the neighboring communities of Niwot and Gunbarrel belong in the same commissioner's district -- testimony that Toor and Domenico both noted.

Boulder Democrat Toor also is term-limited and cannot seek re-election next year to the District 1 seat representing the southwest part of the county on the board.

The boundaries adopted Tuesday will not move any of three other candidates, all Democrats, out of District 1: Boulder resident Elise Jones, director of the Colorado Environmental Coalition; attorney Rich Lopez, who lives on Left Hand Canyon Drive; and Nederland-area resident Garry Sanfacon, who's coordinating the county government's Fourmile Canyon Fire recovery efforts.

No Republican or Libertarian has yet announced a 2012 run for either the Commissioner District 1 or Commissioner District 2 seat.

Under the new map, District 1 would continue to be a southwest Boulder County district, including part of the city of Boulder lying west of the Foothills Parkway and the north and south stretches of the Foothills Highway. It would extend into the rural areas west of Boulder and include the mountain communities of Nederland, Ward and Jamestown.

District 2 would continue to stretch across northern Boulder County, from Allenspark on the west to Longmont on the east. It would continue to include Lyons and Hygiene.

District 3 would continue to be a southeast county district. Its western boundary would be the South Foothills Highway, the Foothills Parkway and the North Foothills Highway. It would include the parts of the city of Boulder east of that boundary, as well as Louisville, Lafayette, Superior and the Boulder County portion of Erie, as well as Niwot and Gunbarrel.

At the time of the 2010 census, the new District 1 area covered by the new map had a larger population -- 100,199 residents -- than the new District 2 area's 96,062 residents or the new District 3 area's 98,306 residents. County attorney Larry Hoyt said that's within the population deviation allowed by state law. Commissioners said the map anticipates that the county's population growth will increase more, by the time of the 2020 census, in Districts 2 and 3 than in District 1.